Goro Majima stars in his first standalone Yakuza spin-off, which adds some pirate panache to last year’s Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
With upwards of 15 games over the past 20 years, the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series has always had to think carefully about how to attract new players into its ever-expanding crime universe. Some of the mainline games have been successful gateways, like Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like A Dragon, but the best place to start is often the standalone spin-offs, which include the murder mysteries of Judgment and historical samurai throwbacks in Like A Dragon: Ishin.
Or now there’s this new, spectacularly titled, spin-off. Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii might star fan favourite character Goro Majima as the lead protagonist for the first time, but in this adventure, he’s come down with a classic equalising plot device: amnesia. With his past narrative baggage, as an aging ex-Yakuza leader, no longer a constraint Majima is free to gallivant on any whim the developer’s fancy.
Thankfully, the fantasy Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio chose perfectly matches Majima’s brand of anarchy. After washing up on an island with no memory of his past, Majima stumbles into the pirate life under the encouragement of his saviour Noah, a young boy who is desperate to leave his island home to see the world and break free from the rules imposed by his drunken father Jason – who has his own troubled history as a treasure hunter.
After a slow opening, the story grows in typical series’ fashion, as a tussle between various factions, with pirates, ex-Yakuza, and the leftovers of the religious Palekana cult from Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth all locked in a race for lost treasure. The story is technically set six months after the events of Infinite Wealth but there isn’t much important connective tissue, with most of the callbacks locked to optional side missions in the re-used Hawaiian setting.
If Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii works as an accessible entry point, long-time fans hoping for a deeper exploration of Majima’s character will be disappointed. Captain Majima might be at the helm of the ship but he’s largely an eccentric passenger in Noah and Jason’s story, which is serviceable at best.
In a similar vein to Kiryu’s spin-off Like A Dragon Gaiden, some great emotional payoff for Majima arrives at the end, but with a longer 20+ hour running-time, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii’s story is stretched and padded out to a far worse degree.
While the narrative feels like an afterthought, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii thrives in its combat. Like other spin-offs in the series, this entry moves away from the turn-based battles seen in the past two mainline games and builds on the original beat ‘em-up foundations.
The most transformative change is the jump button, a series’ first which opens up a surprising amount of possibilities in the heat of a ruckus – whether to simply dodge, pull off a dive attack, or launch enemies up for an air combo. It’s nothing you haven’t seen already in other third person action games, but in the context of the Like A Dragon series it’s a huge improvement over its brawler predecessors.
Majima’s extensive range of attacks make combat more dynamic. Along with his speedy Mad Dog fighting style from previous games, where he wields a knife, Majima can switch to the pirate licks of his Sea Dog style at the touch of a button. If the former is better suited to small one-on-one confrontations, Sea Dog is designed to wrangle large groups – with throwable cutlasses, a whip hook to lasso onto enemies from afar, and a supremely satisfying blunderbuss gun you can charge up to blast foes across the battlefield.
Beyond this, and the series staple heat actions, each style has its own special abilities tied to a madness gauge, which charges during battles. With Mad Dog, Majima can spawn multiple doppelgangers who will rush opponents and imitate your attacks, while Sea Dog has extravagant summons you can unlock, from shark attacks to electrifying jellyfish. When it’s all combined together, and you’re ripping through sword combos, counters, and setting off a killer parrot, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is a strong contender for the best combat in the series.
For most of our playthrough, we gravitated towards the Sea Dog style because, aside from some boss fights, you’re mostly facing off against large pirate crews in the new ship battles. Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is centred around four main islands – Hawaii and Nele island, which return from Infinite Wealth, along with Rich island where you wash up and the secret pirate haunt of Madlantis.
While you can fast travel between these four areas, each one has surrounding waters you can freely navigate, where you’ll encounter enemy fleets and side missions (mostly involving a gauntlet of enemy waves) on small offshore territories.
The sailing itself is in step with Like A Dragon’s goofy, arcade spirit, with speed rings boosting you along the seas and the ability to drift, Fast & Furious style, during battles to line up cannon barrages. It’s silly, relatively shallow, but consistently fun throughout – mostly thanks to the impressive amount of ship customisation.
Beyond your vessel’s aesthetics, you can upgrade the turret machineguns and cannons (including lasers and flamethrowers) on both sides, make improvements to the ship’s general durability and speed, buy rocket launchers Majima can wield during ship battles, and personalise the crew you’ve assembled behind a specific weapon, or as part of your boarding crew when invading other ships.
The amount of customisation is impressive but the ease of battles (on normal difficulty at least) means you rarely have to meaningfully engage in these systems. The toughest battles are in the Pirate Coliseum and a dedicated side quest against the Devil’s Fleet, which is the best part of the game because it actually feels like a challenging pirate romp.
Here you’re rushing down islands to take on enemy waves for treasure without the usual crutch of healing items, fending off enemy boss fleets at sea, and taking on a Devil’s Fleet mini-boss with all of your crew members in a huge spectacle brawl. This is when Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii lives up to its potential as a pirate spin-off, so it’s a shame the systems underneath the hull feel underutilised.
If anything, the re-use of Hawaii’s huge map from Infinite Wealth feels like an unnecessary retread. There are a stack of new sub-stories, mostly involving returning characters from its predecessor, and a slate of returning mini-games, including Dragon Kart and Crazy Delivery, but the series’ usual open world tourism is at odds with the pace of the main story.
Hawaii’s inclusion does extend the overall longevity, but it’s hard not to think Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii would have been a better, more focused spin-off if it prioritised life at sea throughout.
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii lives up to its absurd name through its hugely entertaining combat and ship battles, but it’s bogged down by a forgettable story and noticeable padding which dilutes its best qualities. Like A Dragon games are usually impressive because they do so many things at once, but in Majima’s swashbuckling case, less might have been considerably more.
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii revie summary
In Short: A semi-successful pirate take on the Like A Dragon formula, held back by its lack of focus, drawn out length, and surprisingly weak story.
Pros: Arguably the best beat ‘em-up combat in the series so far. Impressive customisation, across Majima and the ship itself. Ship combat is well implemented and better than it has any right to be. Nice ending for devout fans.
Cons: Compared to past games, the story and supporting characters are forgettable. Some ship management systems are underbaked. Majima feels like a side character in his own spin-off. Starts out slow and drags towards the end. Re-use of Hawaii feels like a detriment.
Score: 6/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £54.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Release Date: 21st February 2025
Age Rating: 18
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